


this is me trying

by callmecait13



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Falling In Love, and not knowing if you can fix it, at least it was supposed to have a happy ending, never quite got there, right now this is mostly soft, then fucking it up, when your life is a mess and you feel like you have no control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:14:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29892711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callmecait13/pseuds/callmecait13
Summary: Nolan isn’t sure where everything went wrong, not really. Okay, that’s a lie. He knows the exact moment he ruined his relationship, the final blow to the house of cards it had become, but when he looks back, it all blurs together. Sometimes, though, he wonders if anything ever went right for him. If he was ever meant to be happy, successful, to have a happily ever after.Or, Nolan Patrick falls in love, but he loses everything before he realizes what he had. He’s not sure he can get it all back.
Relationships: Nolan Patrick/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 2





	this is me trying

**Author's Note:**

> hi. once upon a time I started this fic to post on my tumblr, and ended up abandoning it. I still really love it, and I got tired of viewing it as a "failed" fic in my head, so here we are. 
> 
> starts with the beginning of the 18-19 season.

Nolan isn’t sure where everything went wrong, not really. Okay, that’s a lie. He knows the exact moment he ruined his relationship, the final blow to the house of cards it had become, but when he looks back, it all blurs together. Sometimes, though, he wonders if anything ever went right for him. If he was ever meant to be happy, successful, to have a happily ever after. 

He thinks about the beginning late at night sometimes, back at the start of his sophomore season in Philly, when he was a little less cynical, a little less jaded. Before everything happened that made him that way.

He’d just returned from Winnipeg for training camp at the start of September, suffering in the late summer heat. TK was already going stir crazy in his apartment just a few floors above Nolan, so he’d dragged them both outside and to a nearby park with their rollerblades instead of their usual video game marathon.

Nolan was skating mindlessly along, listening to TK ramble about one specific day he had spent fishing that was somehow better than all the other days– well, half-listening– when a dog sprinted across the path, gleefully trailing a leash behind him. Nolan swerved into the grass to avoid literally running over the dog, but the sudden change from pavement to grass caused him to go flying head over heels. 

A girl comes running after the dog, exasperatedly calling its name. TK, who had stopped like a normal person, and not tumbled to the grass, laughed a little as he watched. Which, Nolan could be bitchy sometimes, but that seemed a little mean, as the girl was clearly struggling quite a bit. The dog, clearly enjoying this game very much, saw Nolan still sprawled out on the ground, and deciding that he was now a part of this game, did a quick 180 just as he was about to be caught and came running back towards Nolan. 

The dog barreled into Nolan’s chest at a full tilt. He also went tumbling, rolling over onto his back with his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. Nolan chuckled, one hand gently grabbing onto the dog’s collar and the other rubbing his belly. His owner was walking over now, but Nolan was focused on not getting licked to death by an overenthusiastic German Shepherd. 

“I’m so sorry,” the girl gasped, bending down over to grab the leash where it rested over Nolan’s legs.

The dog bounced up and sat on his owner’s foot, game over now. Up close, Nolan could see he was still very much a puppy, still growing into his ears and paws

Nolan also realized he was staring and hadn’t responded, and TK was obviously not going to help him out. “Don’t worry about it,” he said, getting to his feet and brushing himself off. “I like dogs,” he added, bending over to rub the dog’s ears.

The girl laughed. “Well, Bear likes people. Which isn’t a super helpful trait for a guard dog to have, unless he can lick people to death.” 

Nolan chuckled as the dog– Bear– craned his head around to lick at his hands. Behind him, TK pointedly cleared his throat, and, no, Nolan did not jump, but it was a near thing. The girl apologizes one last time as they rollerblade away. 

“She was cute,” Teeks muses, and then snickers as Nolan curses when he realizes he didn’t even get her fucking name. 

Nolan found himself going to that park more often, finding excuses to ditch TK after camp, going even as he would honestly rather be taking a nap. He wouldn’t admit to anyone, not even himself, that he was hoping to see her again. 

It wasn’t until just before the season began that he saw her again. He was walking with his hands deep in his hoodie pocket, music turned up loud in his headphones to drown out his thoughts, when a tennis ball rolled to a stop next to his foot. And then a second later a German Shepherd puppy was skidding to a stop to pick up the ball, except he recognized Nolan as a friend, forgot about the ball and put his paws on Nolan’s knee for pets. 

Nolan obliged with a smile, bending over to scratch behind Bear’s ears. He recognized the laugh as it approached. He suddenly understood why Teeks had made it a personal mission to make Nolan laugh as often as possible; he could listen to her laugh forever.

Except he still didn’t know her name. 

“I swear, he has the shortest attention span ever,” she says, and Nolan glances up, sure his cheeks are already pink. Bear paws at him as his hands stop moving. 

“I don’t mind, really,” Nolan manages to say. The girl scoops Bear off the ground, and Nolan thinks he manages to stop himself from pouting. “I’m Nolan, by the way,” he says. 

She smiles at him, and Nolan allows himself to just look for a moment. She looks like she could be his age, and her University of Pennsylvania T-shirt has dog hair all over it. 

“I’m Hallie.” She pauses, and Bear squirms in her arms. “Do you, uh, come here often?” she asks, and it’s so obvious, and it should be awkward, but for some reason it’s not. 

Nolan can’t help but snort. He’s not going to admit that, yes, he does come here often, but only on the off-chance of seeing her again, so he shrugs and says, “Sometimes. Gets me out of my apartment.” Nolan bends down and picks up the tennis ball, holds it out to the dog.

In his pocket, his phone vibrates; he ignores it. He forgot to pause his music when Hallie came over. Hallie groans as Bear starts wiggling, letting him back on the ground. Nolan throws the ball, and they both watch as he goes racing after it. Nolan’s phone starts ringing now. He sighs and pulls it out as Bear comes running back, tripping over his own feet. Nolan’s hand brushes hers as they both reach for the tennis ball again.

It’s G calling, and Nolan rolls his eyes a little as he answers the phone. “”Lo?” he mumbles.

“Oh, so you can answer your phone.” G sounds annoyed, but then again, he usually has a vague air of annoyance about him. “Where are you?” Nolan pulls the phone away from his ear to check the time. G is still lecturing. “- weren’t at your apartment when he left, but you’re not here yet, either.” Shit, he’d forgotten that G had called a last minute team meeting slash bonding get-together before the season started. 

Nolan smirks, though G can’t see him. “Aw, G, were you worried about me?”

G pauses too long before he mutters a, “No.” There’s a yell on his end of the line, and it sounds a lot like Coots. “Just get your ass over here, okay, kid?”

Bear drops the ball at Hallie’s feet. Nolan closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. He’s in sweatpants, and he’s already late, but he knows G will judge him if he doesn’t at least change into jeans or something. 

Hallie throws the ball again before saying, “Stood up your girlfriend?” Her tone is careful, but Nolan can see her smirk from the corner of his eye.

“Nah,” he says, just as careful. “My boss.” God, he can never tell anyone he called G his boss. 

Bear, sufficiently exhausted after chasing the ball a handful of times, flops down between the two of them. 

“You gonna be here later this week?” Hallie asks then, and Nolan winces. They leave for Vegas in the morning, and then to Denver, and won’t be back until after the weekend. 

“No, I, uh, work,” Nolan mumbles.

“Oh,” Hallie says, clipping a leash onto Bear’s collar. 

Nolan is trying to figure out what just happened and if he needs to apologize when his phone vibrates in his hand. He glances at it, but it’s just TK. When he looks up again, Hallie is already walking away with Bear trailing behind her. 

He doesn’t end up changing before heading to the Girouxs. TK crows when he walks in the door, and then he’s plastered against Nolan’s side. 

“Did you find that cute girl from the park? Is that why you’re late?” he says, dragging Nolan towards the rest of the team. One of these days, Nolan needs to find his fucking mute button. 

“Patty met a girl?” Ghost chimes in, getting everyone else’s attention, and Nolan really hates his team sometimes. 

They win in Vegas and lose in Denver, then it’s back home for a game and then off to Ottawa the very next night. It’s over a week before Nolan can drag himself back to the park near his apartment, and he’s already exhausted, though the season’s barely begun.

He has his rollerblades, even though he’s frustrated by their record and even more frustrated that he hasn’t recorded a single point yet, and rollerblading reminds him a little too much about hockey when that’s the last thing he wants to be thinking about. He lets himself get lost in the familiarity of it, anyway.

He’s on his second lap around the park when a dog barks at him, and then he’s being chased by a familiar puppy. He lets Bear follow him for a few strides before veering to the side and letting himself tumblr to the grass. Bear climbs excitedly onto Nolan’s chest and starts licking his chin. 

“Oh my God, I’m so- oh!” Hallie is saying as she rushes over. This is becoming routine.

“Oh?” Nolan echoes, scratching behind Bear’s ears.

“I didn’t realize it was just you.”

“How many people do you regularly see rollerblading around here?” Nolan asks, a little amused.

He looks at Hallie. She’s wearing a Pens hat today, and Nolan squints at her. Sits up and tugs his own Flyers beanie more firmly over his ears. He hopes his cheeks aren’t too red from the wind. Bear is still sitting contentedly in his lap. 

“Well, you haven’t been here in a while, so...none,” Hallie says, but she’s smiling. Nolan just rolls his eyes. 

It’s quiet for a moment, Nolan absently rubbing Bear’s ears, and Hallie looking anywhere but Nolan. Nolan still isn’t sure what he could’ve done to upset her. He’d grown up with two sisters, and he still wasn’t sure he’d ever understand girls. In fact, sometimes he thought Maddie and Aimee just confused him more.

“Do you like hockey?” he blurted.

Hallie looked startled, and her hand touched the bill of her cap absently. “Oh, I used to watch it a lot with my dad, but I don’t follow it much anymore.”

“But you’re a Pens fan,” he pressed. He didn’t know why he cared, why it mattered, not really. It just did.

Hallie narrowed her eyes at him, raised one unimpressed eyebrow. Nolan felt himself flush, but he stared back at her.

“I am from Pittsburgh,” she said. “Do you like hockey?” she asked, pointed.

Nolan tugged on his beanie again, and realized for the first time that she actually didn’t know who he was. “Yeah, but I’m a Jets fan,” he deadpanned. 

She just rolls her eyes and reaches to help Nolan off the ground. He scoops up Bear as he goes. Hallie isn’t short, but Nolan realizes he still towers over her in his rollerblades. Bear snuffles once, then settles with his chin on Nolan’s shoulder. 

“How did you wind up in Philadelphia, wearing a Flyers hat, then?” Hallie asks, still looking up at Nolan as he holds her dog. 

Yeah, she’s got him there.

“How did you end up in Philly?” Nolan deflects instead, even though he remembers her wearing a Penn shirt last time he saw her. 

“School,” she replies impatiently. “You didn’t answer me.”

It’s Nolan’s turn to raise an eyebrow. He doesn’t know why he’s being cagey, not exactly, other than the fact that you’re hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t care about Philly sports in Philadelphia. It’s nice, he guesses, to meet someone who doesn’t see him as Nolan Patrick, second overall draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers, even if the alternative is Nolan, the weird guy who can sometimes be found rollerblading in the park.

“I work here,” he says, which is probably a little obvious, but is also as far as he’s willing to go. 

Hallie’s eyes widen, and it’s almost funny. “Oh my God, do you work for the Flyers?” 

Nolan can’t help but to huff out a little laugh. “Yeah. Something like that.”

Something shifts with Hallie then, like she’s over whatever she was pissed at Nolan about– he was starting to think he’d never find out– and she relaxes. She reaches out to take Bear from him, and he lets her, though somewhat reluctantly. She doesn’t walk away, though, and they both stand there awkwardly. 

“Wanna walk with us for a while? Or skate, I guess?” Hallie asks after a moment of silence. 

Nolan shouldn’t. They have a game later– against Vegas again, fuck– and he’s already been here for a while, doesn’t wanna be too tired to play.

What comes out of his mouth, though, is “Sure.”

They don’t talk much as they set off on the paved path around the perimeter of the park, which is kinda par for the course. Nolan has to shorten his stride a lot so Hallie and Bear can keep up with him, but he still loses himself in the rhythm of it, the sound of his blades against the pavement instead of on the ice. When he looks down, Bear’s ears are flopping in the wind, and his tongue is lolling happily out of his mouth.

Nolan’s phone goes off with, like, three texts in a row, startling both of them. It’s Teeks, because of course it is, wondering why Nolan isn’t answering his door. Nolan makes a mental note to never give that fucker a spare key. He’ll probably forget. All Nolan responds with is “out” before shoving his phone back in his pocket. He’d stopped moving to respond to TK, and Hallie is a couple paces in front of him, giving him a look he can’t quite read. 

“Coworker,” he says by way of explanation. Then he realizes they’d made it to the side of the park near his apartment, pulls his phone back out to check the time. No wonder TK was texting; he should’ve headed back already, started getting ready for the game.

Hallie is still giving him that look, unimpressed and wary, and Nolan really needs to go, really wants to stay.

“Actually, uh,” Nolan says, winces, because he knows how this is gonna sound, but, “I should get going.” Hallie’s face closes off even more, which Nolan wasn’t sure was even possible. “We’ve got a game tonight,” he adds, a little desperate, maybe, anything to get that look off Hallie’s face. 

It works, though. “Oh!” Hallie says, and it hits Nolan that she’s really cute, that he might just be a little gone for her already– Pens hat and all– and why he’s been coming to this stupid park every day just to see her makes a little more sense. “Shit, yeah, guess you can’t be late, can you?”

Nolan doesn’t answer that, because he and TK are often late, actually, but she definitely doesn’t need to know that. “I’ll see you around?” he asks instead, already turning to skate away, Hallie’s answering, “Yeah,” nearly lost to the wind. 

Nearly, but not quite.

TK is sitting on the floor outside Nolan’s apartment door. He looks annoyed when Nolan first walks up, but he sees something on Nolan’s face that makes his turn mischievous, whatever complaint he’d surely been formulating in his head dying before he even started.

“Had a good afternoon, eh, bud?” Teeks asks. Nolan facewashes him, though the effect is lost a little without a hockey glove on, and shoves him out of the way to unlock the door, but TK is not so easily deterred. “Is that how it’s gonna be now? You meet one cute chick, and suddenly you’re abandoning your best friend, eh?”

“Shut up,” Nolan mumbles, but he can feel himself blushing, and he can’t quite fight a smile. He dumps his rollerblades by the front door and heads for the kitchen, leaving TK in the entryway.

Teeks follows, catches the look on Nolan’s face. “Oh my God. Nols. Patty. Do you have a crush?” He’s practically yelling now, and Nolan really hopes his neighbors can’t hear. 

“Shut the fuck up,” Nolan says again, but Teeks just laughs.

They lose to Vegas that night. Nolan tries not to think about it too much. 

It goes on like that for weeks, Nolan finding himself at the park more often than not, manages to sorta learn Hallie’s schedule enough that they run into each other a couple times a week, all the way through October and into November.

Nolan scores his first of the season against the Devils, and Nico bitches about it later, but Nolan’s pretty sure it has more to do with the fact that he wasn’t on the scoresheet at all that night himself. They lose about as much as they win, which isn’t, like, great, but it could be worse too, Nolan supposes. Not that he wants it to get worse. 

“Must have a pretty important job with the Flyers if you always travel with them,” Hallie tries one day after the California trip in late October, but Nolan just shrugs, and she doesn’t try again.

Nolan finds himself looking forward to seeing her, pulling out his phone to text her about the stupid shit TK has said or done, before he remembers he hasn’t had the nerve to get her phone number yet. His other teammates have started noticing too, the assholes, and they start teasing him about his crush whenever they can, all because TK couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Nolan really, really hates them all sometimes. Most of the time, even.

Nolan does manage to ask Hallie for her number, somehow gets her coffee order in the process, starts getting coffee for both of them in the mornings before they meet up. Even though the nearest Dunkin' is not on his way to the park even a little bit. 

It all comes crashing down around his shoulders in the beginning of December. Okay, that might be a little dramatic. But between American Thanksgiving and a bunch of single game roadies, it’s been a while since he’s seen Hallie, and he hates that he misses it. He feels bad sometimes, that he’s basically lying to her all the time, but he likes that she just wants to be friends with him, not with Nolan Patrick.

He’s greeted by Hallie throwing Bear’s slobber-covered tennis ball at his chest as hard as she can. Which isn't really that hard, all things considered, but it’s cold out, so it still stings a little. She’s wearing a Pens hoodie and beanie, which feels deliberate, and Nolan has a feeling he knows where this is going. 

“Ow?” he says, but it comes out more like a question. 

“You could’ve told me you played for the Flyers,” Hallie snaps, but up close, she doesn’t actually look all that angry. 

“I thought you didn’t watch hockey,” Nolan complains.

“I always watch when we play the Flyers,” she says, and, right, Pens fan. “Maybe Sid and Giroux aren’t gonna try and murder each other every game anymore, but the games are still always entertaining.”

That’s true, because G has calmed down– a little, sorta– with age, but Simmer had dropped the gloves with Oleksiak two minutes in, so it wasn’t like the rivalry had died out.

“Didn’t think it would matter that much,” Nolan says, avoiding Hallie’s eyes to bend down and throw the ball over Bear, watch him trip over his own feet as he races after it.

Hallie takes a step closer, nudges Nolan’s arm where he’s shoved it in his hoodie pocket. He still doesn’t look down at her. “They’ll get you guys next time,” she says, taking the tennis ball when Bear shoves it into her hand. 

Nolan scoffs, Hallie throws the ball, and that’s the end of that. 

She kisses him for the first time two weeks later, on his back on the grass in the snow, after a terrible road trip where they lost four out of five, and ended with Hakstol getting fired. For a moment, the world stops spinning so damn fast, and Nolan can stop worrying: about his points (not enough), about the team (not good enough), about everything, really.

Bear’s rolling in the snow somewhere to Nolan’s left, and Hallie is a warm weight across his thighs as she pulls back, hands still on his shoulders. There’s a snowflake on one of her eyelashes. Nolan’s not sure exactly how they ended up in this position, not exactly, but he knows his back is starting to get cold from where the snow is seeping in. He should get up. 

Hallie’s semester is over, or almost over, Nolan thinks, which means she’ll be heading back home to Pittsburgh for Christmas soon, and suddenly Nolan doesn’t feel much like moving anymore. The team had stopped in Winnipeg on that hell trip, and Nolan had only blushed a little when Aimee had asked if he’d met anyone in Philly yet. Because, yeah, it seemed like he had. Sucks that she had to be a Pens fan, though. He’d have to work on that. 

He slides his hands up Hallie’s thighs– tries not to notice how easily one of his hands covers her entire hip- and flips them so he’s leaning over her. The movement knocks her beanie off– she’s still wearing that goddamn Pens one– and she hits the frozen ground hard enough that it knocks the breath out of her. Nolan bends forward to kiss her again, except Bear is interested in playing now, and he darts forward and licks Nolan’s cheek before stealing Hallie’s hat and dashing off with it. Nolan splutters as Hallie laughs beneath him. He shoots her a glare, but she just pushes him away and gets up to chase Bear. 

Nolan sits in the snow-covered grass and watches, not trying to hide his smile, and he thinks that he’s definitely found someone.

Carter makes his debut a couple of nights later, drags the team to a much-needed win, and Nolan is foolish enough to think that things might actually start looking up for the team. They don’t. Well, not at first anyway.

They lose eight straight through the rest of December and into the beginning of January, falling well below .500, and none of it is pretty. Nolan kinda hates hockey, he decides somewhere in the middle. 

Except Hallie calls him on Christmas morning, not long after he’s hung up with his mom and sisters, and there’s a Santa hat perched crookedly on her head that makes Nolan laugh in spite of himself. 

“It was my dad’s,” Hallie says by way of explanation, which doesn’t really actually explain that much, Nolan thinks, but he lets it go. They end up talking for the better part of an hour, Nolan grinning the whole time, even when Hallie gets in an argument with her younger sister Rosie, who insists on shoving her face in frame to say hi, about who has to take the trash from opening presents out. 

Hallie keeps calling him, too. Every night after a game, or in the morning if the game finishes too late. (He admires her dedication to her sleep schedule a little on those nights, even if he misses her when his text goes unanswered until the morning.) She puts up with Teeks, who is admittedly kind of tame around her, even though he does go off about different kinds of fishing lures for twenty minutes one night, and neither Nolan nor Hallie can get a word in edgewise until until Nolan throws a pillow at him and he goes toppling from where he was standing on his hotel bed. 

They talk about anything but hockey, though Nolan suspects Hallie has started watching the Flyers games, or at the very least started scoreboard watching, if her perfectly timed good luck pregame texts and postgame phone calls are anything to go by. She also calls him an idiot for taking a penalty against the Blues in the middle of a rant about something her sister had done, so there’s that. 

Hallie’s back in Philadelphia a couple days later, and they meet in the park like always before turning around and going back to Nolan’s apartment because it’s too fucking cold outside. He sends TK a warning text on the way to maybe keep him the fuck away for a while. Bear jumps up on the middle of the couch as soon as they’re inside, making himself right at home. He’s gotten a lot bigger since October, and he’s taking up most of a couch cushion on his own. Hallie starts to apologize, but Nolan just scoots Bear over to the corner of the couch and sit down himself. He slings an arm over the back of the couch, hoping he looks more confident than he feels, but Hallie smiles and rolls her eyes as she kicks off her boots and settles into Nolan’s side. 

She seems small like this, her head resting on his collarbone as he digs the remote out from between the cushions, and he can’t resist pressing a kiss to the top of her head as he turns the TV on. They settle on some movie on Netflix they’ve both seen before which is perfectly fine with Nolan. They’re quiet as they watch for about fifteen minutes, until Nolan gets bored and asks Hallie about her classes this semester, which launches her into a whole-ass monologue. She’s a lot smarter than him– a biochem major, he thinks she said once– and most of the time he has zero clue what she’s talking about, but he loves the way her eyes light up when she gets going. 

He wonders if he’s ever looked that happy, that passionate, while talking about hockey.

They make out some, too, but it’s lazy and without any real intent, just something to pass time with the movie serving as background noise. They both jump so hard their foreheads bang together when Bear sneezes behind Nolan, and then they’re laughing too hard to do anything more than curl back together on the couch. Hallie’s feet are always freezing, Nolan learns.

The movie’s almost over, but Nolan doesn’t really feel like moving. It’s warm and cozy on the couch with Hallie half on top of him and a blanket twisted around them from their ill-fated makeout session. 

“Don’t you have a game tonight?” Hallie murmurs as the credits roll and Nolan shows no inclination of moving. He blinks down at her. 

“I thought you didn’t watch hockey that much,” Nolan teases. Hallie blushes, and Nolan laughs, brushing a kiss to her forehead. He digs out his phone to check the time. “Mm, yeah, I gotta eat something and nap soon,” he says, but he still doesn’t move. 

“Nap? We’ve done nothing for hours!”

Nolan snorts. “I had skate this morning, first of all.” He rolls so he’s on top of Hallie again. “Second of all, I’d love to see you play a hockey game without taking a nap first. Shit’s exhausting.” Hallie giggles, and Nolan ducks down to kiss her. “You wanna come to a game?” he asks before he can think better of it. 

“Tonight?” Hallie looks startled.

“Nah.” He kisses her again, because he can. “Just sometime.”

“Sometime, then,” Hallie agrees.

Sometime turns out to be the next Monday night, when the Wild are in town. Nolan leaves a ticket and a VIP pass at Will Call for Hallie, texts Ryanne and asks her to take care of Hallie during the game, and scans the early crowd for her during warmups. 

She’s got that damn Pens hat on– a bold move, but he swears she’s just doing it out of spite at this point– but he sees a flash of orange under her jacket that just might be a Flyers jersey. Nolan absolutely does not blow an edge as he skates by, and she grins at him. Nope.

They win, 7-4 in a game that just might be one of their best all season. Nolan scores two goals and notches two assists, and he’s still smiling when he leaves the locker room after the game. 

Hallie is standing next to Ryanne with her back turned to Nolan. He waves away TK, who’s talking up a storm about going out and celebrating, even though it’s a Monday night and they’re still below .500, and wraps his arms around Hallie’s waist, rests his chin on her shoulder. Ryanne smiles at him, but he’s focused on Hallie, who’s turning in his arms and resting her hands on his sides underneath his suit jacket.

“Hey you,” she says.

“I apologize in advance,” Nolan mumbles, and then he’s kissing her. She makes a surprised noise against his mouth– or maybe a questioning one, to be honest– before she’s kissing back. The cheers from his teammates are immediate and loud, exactly as Nolan expected, and Hallie flinches and pulls away, but she’s laughing. His teammates are still yelling behind him, and he flips them off behind his head. Annoying assholes, he thinks fondly. 

TK has plastered himself to Nolan’s side again, and he grins at Hallie. Nolan briefly considers putting him in a headlock before he can open his mouth. 

“I’m Travis,” he says,” we haven’t officially met yet.” 

Nolan thinks of that first day in the park all the way back in September, and then the fishing lure rant. There was a reason he hadn’t introduced Hallie to Teeks yet, and he says as much. TK looks offended, but only for a second. 

Nolan pulls Hallie in for a quick kiss. “You’re officially my good luck charm, you have to come to every game now,” he says. Behind her, he sees G roll his eyes, but he’s smiling with his arm around Ryanne’s shoulders. 

“Oh yeah?” Hallie laughs. “Guess I’ll have to drop out of school then.” 

“Sorry, I don’t make the rules,” Nolan says back, grinning down at her. 

It turns out that Hallie actually might be the team’s good luck charm, because they go on an eight game win streak that gets Carter Rookie of the Month, Nolan seven points, and doesn’t end until they go to a shootout against the Kings.

“I’ll make a Flyers fan out of you yet,” he tells Hallie one night as he drives her home after a game. 

“We’ll see about that,” she says, but she’s smirking and she’s stopped wearing the Pens hat to games, so Nolan counts it as a win.

“Hey, are you doing anything Monday night?” Nolan asks over the phone a couple days later.

Hallie pauses on the other end of the line. “Don’t you have a game on Monday night?”

“Yeah, and we’re playing the Pens,” Nolan says simply.

Hallie goes quiet again; Nolan can practically hear her thinking. 

“You want me to come?”

Nolan’s confused now. “I want you at all my games? Do- d’you not want to come?”

“No, I just-” Hallie laughs a little bit. “Nols, I might be dating you now, but I’m always gonna cheer for the Pens, babe.”

Nolan laughs, too. “You’re the worst. If you show up in a Crosby jersey, I’m breaking up with you.”

They lose, which sucks, and Nolan’s already scowling when he comes out from the locker room, and Hallie is waiting for him in a fucking Malkin jersey, which sucks even more.

Teeks thinks it’s hilarious, and Nolan mutters, “I hate you both,” as they walk towards the parking lot. 

“Hey, you only said I couldn’t wear a Crosby jersey!” Hallie shoots back, which makes Teeks laugh harder, and he has to pause to catch his breath before he gets behind the steering wheel. 

He’s still scowling when they drop Hallie off at her apartment, but he gets out and kisses her goodbye anyway, and pointedly ignores TK’s smirk when he gets back in the car.

“You gonna ask her to come to the Stadium Series game?” Teeks asks on Friday, standing in Nolan’s kitchen when the game is barely a week away. Nolan just shrugs. He wants to, has thought about it, but he’s not sure if they’re there yet. Doesn’t wanna fuck this up, when he feels like this thing he’s got with Hallie is good.

TK raises his eyebrows at him, and Nolan looks down, fiddles with the cap on his Gatorade. 

“Dude.” TK sounds unimpressed. “Wait, gimme your phone.”

“Fuckin- absolutely not.” Nolan takes a step away from TK for good measure. 

“Well, someone’s gotta invite your girlfriend to the biggest game of the season, against our biggest rival, who she happens to be a fan of-”

Nolan sighs. “What if she doesn’t wanna come?” And, yeah, maybe that’s what he’s really been worried about.

“Only one way to find out, buddy.” He hates it when TK is right. 

Their schedule is weird, back and forth a lot over the next couple days, and Nolan wants to ask Hallie in person, because for some reason he thinks it’ll be easier if she rejects him in person. (TK calls him an idiot again when he says that.)

It’s Hallie who brings it up first on Monday, where Nolan is lying on her couch with Bear while she does homework. Well. Nolan had ended up on Twitter, reading opinions from people about how he was a draft bust, a waste of talent and a number two draft pick, how he should be moved at the deadline for someone worth it, and Hallie was doing homework. 

“You excited about the game Saturday?” Hallie asks, startling Nolan a little. He locks his phone and looks down at her. Her eyes are fixed on a textbook page where she’s sitting on the floor by Nolan’s feet, but they’re not moving like she’s actually reading. The question feels pointed, a little loaded. She has a way of doing that.

“Yeah, obviously. It’s a big game,” he says. Hallie doesn’t move. “Fuck the Pens,” he adds for good measure, nudging her a little with his foot. He thinks he sees her crack a small smile.

“Your family coming at all?” she asks next. She still hasn’t turned a page in her textbook.

“Nah. Everyone was too busy, or it’s too far.” They’re both quiet for a moment. “Would you, y’know, wanna come?” Nolan asks, squeezes his eyes shut so he doesn’t have to look down at Hallie for a moment.

“I didn’t think you wanted me to come,” Hallie’s voice is small, and, well, shit. Nolan definitely should’ve asked sooner. 

“I wasn’t sure you’d want to come,” Nolan admits. Hallie reaches around to smack his thigh, then pokes hard at where she knows he’s got a bruise from a blocked puck the other day. Nolan hisses in pain, but he might deserve it, just a little bit.

“You’re an idiot,” Hallie says, but there’s no anger in it.

“Yeah, people keep telling me that,” Nolan grumbles, hauling Hallie off the floor and letting her sprawl across his lap. “So you’ll be there?” he asks, just to hear her actually say it. Hallie kisses him quickly, then flicks him in the forehead, which, rude. “Ow,” Nolan complains, flicking her back.

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” she says. Nolan has to kiss her again.

“There’s a family skate, too, on Friday after practice, if you wanna,” he adds.

“I don’t have skates,” Hallie says, and Nolan can’t help but snort a little bit.

“That’s what you’re worried about?”

“I haven’t been skating in years,” she says, and Nolan reminds himself to get that story out of her later.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you fall. Much.” And Hallie gasps in mock offense, and Nolan isn’t sure why he was worried.


End file.
